As is known, many software applications and operating systems run on a hardware system 100, generally shown in FIG. 1, that allows for touch input from a user 102, usually via a touch-sensitive transparent screen or other device 104. Over the years, these have included, for example, video poker machines, ATMs, touch pads, etc. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) 105 with one or more target icons 106-x is usually presented to the user. When physically “touched” by the user, i.e., when the touch-sensitive screen, e.g., using capacitance or resistance, is touched adjacent an icon, the contact is detected. The “touched” icon is then identified, per pixel coordinates, for example, and a corresponding response is elicited from the software application.
The complexity of these touches has grown over time, from relatively simple “taps” or “clicks,” to selecting and dragging components, swiping left or right, zooming in and out and other touch gestures. The “zooming” feature, with the proliferation of handheld devices, is often implemented by the user implementing a “pinch” gesture on the touch-sensitive screen.
An issue arises for older or legacy applications that may have no touch input recognition or minimal touch input recognition capabilities but are not programmed to recognize common, or more recently adopted, touch gestures, for example, the pinching gesture. While the applications could be modified, often there is no access to the source code and, even if it was available, each program would have to be modified and doing so is not an economically feasible option.
What is needed is a way to provide touch gesture recognition to legacy software applications.